


Hurog means dragon

by niqaeli



Category: Hurog - Patricia Briggs
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-19
Updated: 2006-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 05:13:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1633379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niqaeli/pseuds/niqaeli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for Taelle</p>
    </blockquote>





	Hurog means dragon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Taelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taelle/gifts).



> Written for Taelle

Tosten looked at Oreg. The dragon's head was bowed over his brother's broken body as he cradled it gently. Oreg did not look up, did not even show the slightest awareness of him.

"Oreg," he called, softly. "Oreg."

Oreg looked up, eventually, eyes twin to Tosten's own too bright with unshed tears. He did not seem to see Tosten--looked through him rather--but he must have noticed Tosten because he spoke. "Your knife," he said, vaguely.

Tosten looked at him, alarmed. "No, Oreg. Whatever it is, no. Ward would not want it."

Oreg's gaze sharpened, finally seeing Tosten. He laughed hollowly. "I don't doubt that. Your knife," he said, again. "Yours or another's. Yours is better, you're kin. Ward's is filthy."

Tosten worried his lip. Whatever Oreg planned, suicide or more likely magic, it was not likely something Ward would like. But he was certain that if he did not help Oreg would find another way and something bone-deep made him sure that Oreg was right--his knife would be better. "All right," he said, and pulled it from his belt and handed it to his distant kinsman.

There was no ceremony, no pomp, no artistry. Oreg simply sliced his palm cleanly and let his blood drip into Ward's mouth and sealed it shut with his own mouth--it was not, in fact, a kiss though Tosten would not have been surprised had it been. " _Live_ ," the dragon whispered as his tears fell. Ward's body lit from within Hurog-blue, grew brighter and brighter until Tosten was forced to shut his eyes and cover them and even then it was too bright, practically white.

When he could open his eyes, neither Oreg nor Ward remained, though around him he could see the effects of dragon wings beating to take off. He looked up, shielding his eyes and thought he saw a faint outline in the sky, purple streaked with brown, but it might as easily have been a trick on him played by his over-taxed eyes.

Tosten looked back down at the ground, at his knife, and knelt beside it, running his fingers through the blood still on it. He felt a strange and terrible urge to taste it but simply held it to him, cradling it as Oreg had his brother, as his own tears began to fall.

He had little idea what he would tell Tisala. She would believe him, of course, that Oreg had worked strange and terrible magic. But he had no notion what magic that might be, strange visions aside.

He had even less idea what they would tell little Sala. Nearly four years old and as sharp as a dragon's tongue beyond those Hurog-blue eyes, she would probably understand far too well for a little girl.

Tosten put the knife back in its sheath still stained with a dragon's blood and whistled for his mount. He rode back to Hurog keep, tears still fresh.

\--

_The rockslide had been utterly unexpected. I heard the land, but not before it was too late--I had no time to think, just reacted. I managed to save Tosten... but not myself._

_There was a great deal of pain, then dark. Purple all around me, Hurog-blue, and I could feel the land itself, Hurog magic..._

_Oreg._

_Oreg felt my agony, of course. He's not bound to me or to Hurog anymore, hasn't been in years, not by magic. Yet I sometimes think he's bound more tightly than ever. I never meant him to be mine, meant to free him, but somehow I can't quite regret that he is._

_I knew he would quite possibly waste away or go mad if I died but I had not realised that he would..._

_Well._

Oreg _, I whispered in my own head._

 _He craned his neck around to look at me._ I am sorry, Ward _, he said, sadly._

_I suppose I should have been angry, really. Oreg expected it, certainly. But I wasn't. There is something very, very difficult in being angry when one is flying. It is simply too glorious to hold on to something like that._

I know _, is all I said and stretched my wings._

_Soon, I would have to fly to the keep. But not just yet. My dragon, my Oreg, smiled brightly though of course you couldn't have told from his face. I could feel it all the same._

\--

Sala rarely woke early from her afternoon nap so when she came in looking for her mother, a blanket clutched tightly, Tisala found herself slightly worried.

"Mama," Sala said quietly, the terror in her voice well-mastered. Far more so than any child should be capable of, but her parents both were strong and brave fighters and it seemed likely Sala would be as strong as either.

Tisala gathered her up into a comforting embrace. "What is it?" she asked.

"Something's wrong," she said, shivering. "Feel cold, Mama."

Tisala held her tightly and didn't let go. Some parents might dismiss it as merely the nightmare of a young child but Sala was the mage-born daughter of the Hurogmeten, nor did she frighten easily. Knowing her daughter was afraid made Tisala afraid too.

It passed, however, and Sala warmed up and fell back asleep in her mother's, so Tisala put her back in her bed and wondered what could possibly have happened.

\--

Tosten rode towards the pockmarked keep with a heavy heart that grew heavier. He had no desire for Hurog to be his own and he had come to like Oreg. If they were lucky they had only lost Ward but he feared that they would lose Oreg as well. Even if whatever magic he had worked did not kill him, his grief would.

Oreg was valuable to Hurog but also deeply so to Ward and everyone knew it. He would be mourned.

Tosten was so caught in his own grief that he hardly noticed the strange winds at first. When he did look up, he saw dragons flying over the keep. Oreg was not an unknown sight at Hurog keep but there was another dragon. One with brown scales.

His breath caught in his throat. No hallucination, then.

He spurred his horse towards the castle.

\--

Tisala looked at Tosten worriedly. He was flushed and breathing hard. "Tosten! What is the matter? Where is Ward?"

Tosten's eyes were perhaps a little mad as he grabbed her hand. "Come, Tisala, outside! It's Ward," he said and dragged her along behind him.

Tisala stumbled after him at first but found her footing. She still found herself out of breath very quickly, her pregnancy far enough along that her lungs and other organs were permitted little room.

"Tosten, what is the matter?" she gasped. "What is the hurry? What is wrong?"

Tosten pointed upwards and Tisala gasped as she recognised Oreg as he landed near them.

"I am sorry, Tisala," he said. "Ward was dying and I had no other choice."

Tisala looked up at the brown dragon. "Oh, gods," she whispered. "Is he..."

Ward landed by Oreg and craned his head around. "Tisala."

"Ward," she whispered. "No wonder Sala was terrified. What happened?"

Ward shrugged his shoulders, stretching out his wings before tucking them close to his body. "There was a rockfall. I only had time to save Tosten--I was caught. Oreg... I don't know what he did. I don't think he entirely knows," he said, looking over at the other sharply. "But here I am."

Tosten shivered. "He was dead, Tisala. And then Oreg did something and they were gone. I thought it was a trick my eyes were playing til I got here and," he gestured vaguely, "they were here."

Tisala looked at Oreg, not Ward. "What is he?"

"I don't know," Oreg said. "He's never been easily defined."

Ward shimmered and then he was there again, human. "I can do this, at least," he said and held Tisala closely.

"What are we going to do?" Tisala asked. "Even Hurog will blanch at a Hurogmeten who is a dragon and possibly a ghost."

Ward sighed. "I don't know."

Tisala sighed. "Your daughter had a nightmare about this," she said. "Come inside, at least, and comfort her."

Oreg shifted to human form. Ward caught Oreg's hand in his own as they walked inside.

Tisala sighed. _Here is one hell of a mess_ , she thought tiredly and leaned into Ward's strength.


End file.
